MELL TRAYLOR is a brave, if unwise, soul. You've got to have moxie to take on a 12-year incumbent in the Georgia Senate, especially an incumbent like Eric Johnson.

Mr. Johnson, the Senate president pro tem, is powerful, well-known and well-financed. He also has a solid record.

Democrat Traylor did not help his cause with a feeble attempt to link Mr. Johnson with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke - simply because they're both from Louisiana.

Mr. Traylor's statement that "they're all related down there," is just the sort of sweeping, narrow-minded comment that gives politicians a bad name.

If he is this unconvincing in the campaign, how well will he be able to advocate for Savannah and Chatham County if he's elected to serve under the Gold Dome?

Mr. Johnson's record and conduct are fair game for any challenger. And political competition is a good thing. It gives voters a choice and helps the public hold elected officials accountable.

But Mr. Traylor's ham-handed effort to link Mr. Johnson - by blood, apparently - to one of the most well-known racists in the country reeks of desperation. Besides, you can't pick your relatives. Only your friends.

You can, however, choose where to live and where to vote.

Mr. Traylor has a few things to explain on both counts.

The Democratic candidate is registered to vote in Georgia and in South Carolina. Mr. Traylor said he lives on Talahi Island and has an office in Hilton Head Island, S.C., where he used to do business. That's fine. Plenty of people who live on one side of the Savannah River do business on the other side.

But it's odd for the same person to be registered to vote in two states at the same time. Mr. Traylor said he doesn't vote in both places, which would disqualify him from serious consideration for public office. However, documents filed - as recently as last year, apparently - on his behalf for corporations he formed in South Carolina may have listed his Hilton Head address, he said.

"They want a local address," Mr. Traylor said. "They ask where the corporate records are kept... I have people who do these things for me. I don't have time for all of them..."

Yes, but if you are someone who's running for the Georgia Legislature, and you will be representing Georgia constituents, you do the important things yourself. You take the time to make sure your house (or houses) are in order. Your ties to this side of the river should be crystal clear.

In Mr. Traylor's case, they're as clear as mud - similar to the substance he tossed on Mr. Johnson with the David Duke crack. And to further muck things up, Mr. Traylor arrived at a news conference Wednesday in a Mercedes with South Carolina tags. Did he think no one would notice?

Mr. Traylor grew up in Savannah, graduated from Savannah High School and served in the Senate in the 1970s, so he's known and has a political base. You could argue that his roots here run deeper than Mr. Johnson, who comes from Louisiana.

We give points to Mr. Traylor for giving voters a choice in November. But if he's going to rattle the Republican incumbent's family tree in this race, then he should know where his own acorns are buried. So should First District voters.

Mr. Traylor's ham-handed effort to link Mr. Johnson - by blood, apparently - to one of the most well-known racists in the country reeks of desperation.